We need your voice to help Congress recognize the possibility of ending the AIDS epidemic and the importance of the resources, policies, and programs necessary to ensure that HIV prevention, care, treatment, and support services are widely available. Join hundreds of other advocates and register for AIDSWatch! Combined, our voices, stories, and passion, will get us closer to ending the epidemic.

Wondering whether or not you should apply for an AIDSWatch scholarship? Curious about other people's experiences at AIDSWatch? Don't know what AIDSWatch is? This article should have the answers to all your questions and more.

I often talk about what it was like testing HIV-positive in 1992, when the only treatment available was AZT. Today, I consider the bounty of treatments available and the many more in development. I think of what science has done for me, this field, and for so many others like me. Yet science alone can’t create a just world. In its purest form, science can be cold, calculated, and simply focused on what can be proven true or false. Science has delivered both cures and bombs, has been used for both good and bad. While science has the potential to fix much of what ails us — it won’t work for the advancement of us all without being firmly steeped in and led by our values.

Stories really do make all the difference, whether swaying a legislator, combatting HIV-related stigma, addressing bigotry, or raising awareness. When woven together, they mark our hard-fought journey, measure our progress, and show just how far we have yet to go to make the promise of an AIDS-free generation a reality. It is clear that together we can end AIDS in America. It was especially evident during last week’s AIDSWatch—which took place in Washington D.C. from Sunday, February 28th to Tuesday, March 1st.

Not to be overly dramatic, but lessons we learn here can carry throughout our lives. I have discovered that what I learned at AIDSWatch allowed me to develop my own voice, form formidable partnerships, and support new voices.

This World AIDS Day, help us make the promise a reality. Please consider a tax-deductible year-end gift or monthly pledge to AIDS United. By investing in our work, we can continue to advance our mission of ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States.

Can I count on your support to ensure the Ryan White program stays funded for the next few years, as we work out the details of Affordable Care Act implementation? Can I count on you to do everything in your power to repeal HIV criminalization laws, because they unfairly target and stigmatize people living with HIV? These are the questions I want every legislator in Congress to look me in the eyes and answer.

Posted By: Naina Khanna, US People Living with HIV Caucus Steering Committee Member, and AIDS United Trustee - Monday, November 16, 2015

We have the science to end the HIV epidemic. We just need the political will. That’s why AIDSWatch, the largest annual constituent-based national HIV/AIDS advocacy day, is more important than ever. Last year, AIDSWatch brought together nearly 400 advocates from 30 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia to the nation’s capital. Collectively, AIDSWatch represented states that account for 92% of the current U.S. epidemic. Advocates had 220 congressional meetings – including 70 attended by a Member of Congress – to tell their stories and educate them about important issues to people living with HIV in the United States.

For almost three decades, AIDS United has supported community-driven responses to the HIV epidemic around the country that reach the nation’s most disproportionately affected people, including gay and bisexual men, communities of color, women, people living in the Deep South, people struggling with substance abuse, those living in poverty, and people living with HIV/AIDS.